1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to passenger buses and the like, and, in particular, relates to devices to prevent passengers from interfering with the driver, and, in greater particularity, relates to doors that act as a barrier shield to the passenger area of the bus, as drivers now face heightened security issues.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Intercity passenger buses may be used to transport passengers from point to point such as Greyhound buses. Similar buses may also be used in mass transit operations within a metropolitan area. In any event, the bus driver is normally preoccupied with driving the bus and thus may be unaware of passengers attempting to assault the bus driver, take over the bus or attempting to crash the bus until it is too late to prevent direct contact and is thus unable to defend himself/herself without possibly crashing the bus because of the interference from the attacking passenger(s). If the passenger bus is a mass transit bus, a passenger may be attempting to rob the driver of collected fares also.
Buses are typically operated during all times of the day, but night time operations creates special problems for the driver. The driver is confronted with glaring lights and reflections from lights, from vehicles in the rear and those approaching, so it is difficult for the driver to monitor the passenger area by looking in the inside rear-view mirror. Interior lights also create glare and reflections as well as sun light during the day time.
Several issued patents are directed at devices for protecting the driver from attacking passengers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,735 issued on Oct. 14, 1980 and entitled “Protective Enclosure for a Bus” discloses an enclosure about the driver of a typical mass transit bus. The driver's location is surrounded by a rear wall with transparent windows therein and a side wall also with transparent windows therein. A fare collecting device may be attached to the side wall. The side wall also contains a locking door with transparent windows therein. Although glass may be one type of transparent material there are other types of materials that will present an impenetrable transparent window such as clear polycarbonate materials. The windows in this patent are vertical and thus would not provide the driver with glare and reflection prevention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,286 issued on Apr. 2, 1991 and entitled “Transport Vehicle Protective Shield” discloses a compartment for the bus driver having transparent, multi-layered, bullet-proof paneling. All of the paneling is vertically oriented and thus would present glare and reflections to the driver.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,629 issued Jul. 15, 1997 and entitled “Reflection Eliminator” discloses a structure having a plurality of vertically oriented members. The device is typically placed on the dash, for example, and prevents sun light from being reflected off of the dash onto the sloping window and then into the eyes of the driver. The use of this device to prevent glare and reflections from vertical windows such as in the enclosure/compartment shown above is not feasible.
Even when there is a security isolation booth structure as disclosed in the first two patents, the driver/operator of a bus has difficulty viewing passengers while using the inside rear-view mirror. A closure door may be designed to open and latch against a panel installed on the right side of the aisle while the bus is in operation. In order for the driver to see the passenger area through the closure door, typically, a transparent vertical insert is placed in the closure door. The driver/operator is unable to observe or observe with great difficulty the passengers while using the inside rear-view mirror because of daytime and nighttime optical glare and reflection projected off the flat vertical insert of the closure door thus posing a safety and security dilemma.
Further anti-glare and anti-reflection techniques, both required in the present invention, such as screens, films, coatings, and surface-changing processes are more limited to particular surfaces and images. The desired image is usually in near proximity to the surface of glare and reflection in order for any of the above techniques to be successful, as opposed to desired images of a distant proximity from a surface of glare and reflection because of the dispersion of light rays versus the transmission of light rays. The need to view distant images through a surface of glare and reflection created a situation where existing methods could not achieve their intended purpose.
Thus, there exists a need for bus driver barrier shield that allows the bus driver to protect himself/herself from attack while at the same time allows the viewing of the passenger area by an inside rear-view mirror or directly by substantially reducing or eliminating the glare and reflections from the barrier shield itself.